Book picks similar to
Lila's Dance by Jill Metcalf


romance
01-historical-american
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americana

An Audacious Spitfire


Carré White - 2013
    On her eighteenth birthday, she receives a letter from her deceased mother, detailing her shocking parentage. She learns that her father's name is Gerry Quinn. Armed with a small inheritance, Bridget escapes from St. Joseph's Orphan Home with her trusted ten-year-old sidekick, Sawyer Brown. Together they embark on a wild and unpredictable journey that will lead Bridget straight into the arms of Jesse Owen, who is eager to help her find her father, although his motives are questionable. When the dust settles, a family will be reunited, a couple will be torn apart, and a surprise ending will turn everything on its head, again.This is the first book in the "Arizona Brides Series", which follows the lives of four plucky young ladies, who find themselves on wild and crazy adventures in the Arizona Territory.

Immigrant Bride


Jean Dunstan - 2021
    Devastated, Sophia, a naïve farm girl, is forced to marry a young man named Domenic and leave for the United States. As part of a large Italian exodus heading to the United States looking for a better life, Sophia must adjust to being in a strange country and build a life as a young immigrant bride in New York City. Can Sophia overcome her fears and learn to build a life for herself and the ones she loves when fate steps in and steals her happiness away once more? And will she be strong enough to move forward when destiny hands her a new adventure?

A Scattering Of Daisies


Susan Sallis - 1984
    Will Rising had dragged himself from humble beginnings to his own small tailoring business in Gloucester - and on the way he'd fallen violently in love with Florence, refined, delicate, and wanting something better for her children. March was the eldest girl, the least loved, the plain, unattractive one who, as the family grew, became more and more the household drudge. But March, a strange, intelligent, unhappy child, had inherited some of her mother's dreams. March Rising was determined to break out of the round of poverty and hard work, to find wealth, and love, and happiness.

Ladies and their Secrets: Regency Romance Collection


Joyce Alec - 2019
     Diamonds of the Marquess Lady Emily Dove doesn’t know whom to trust. Her true identity must never be known. The Viscount’s Promise A mystery that surrounds Julianna’s family could lead her to the man that steals her heart. If you love clean and wholesome, Regency romances with strong heroines, mystery, and love, then the Ladies and their Secrets Regency Romance Collection will warm your heart.

To Love a Tormented Earl


Bridget Barton - 2020
    Time is running short, and if she doesn't find a suitor soon, her household may not survive. Her life takes an unexpected twist, though, when she suddenly comes across her former employer who was believed to be dead. Even though she knows that a romance with him would be a false hope, she can’t stop daydreaming about his captivating gaze. When he asks for her assistance to unveil a conspiracy that ruined his life, her generous heart compels her to agree. Will Emilia manage to overcome the barriers that go against her happiness? Would destiny hold for her a happy ending?After faking his own death three years before, Maximilian Emery, the true Earl of Ceastre, has returned to London to reclaim his estate and his name. But before he can do that, he must determine who is involved in the blackmail that prompted him to flee in the first place. When fate brings him together with a woman from his past, soon old feelings begin to resurface. But until he finds out who is hidden behind the evil plot against him, love will remain just a flight of fantasy, no matter how his anxious heart skips a beat everytime she is around. Will Max manage to solve a puzzle that has made his life a living hell? Will his only dream to live by Emilia's side come true?Despite their strong feelings, Max and Emilia‘s union seems impossible, as they come from two spheres of society not accustomed to mingling. To make matters worse, when Emilia discovers the reason for Max’s exile, she feels that everything is crashing down. Will the star-crossed lovers find a way through the obstacles that insist to keep them apart or will they accept a future without hope of true love?

When Two Souls Defy Destiny: A Historical Western Romance Book


Aurora Hanson - 2021
    As Melinda is saying her final goodbyes to her beloved sister, a brilliant yet risky idea presents itself. Melinda will take her place on the train instead, allowing her sister to stay in town and have a chance with her love. By the time their ruse is discovered, Melinda will be walking down the aisle with her future husband…What could possibly go wrong with such a perfect plan?Reginald Dawson started out in life with nothing and built a fortune from the goldfields in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Now, with a large hotel and success within his grasp, he is on the brink of having it all. When he posts an ad looking for a wife, he only has one thing in mind: to find someone sweet and genteel to be his companion and partner in life. With a lady of refinement at his side, even his tainted past could be overlooked, right?The problem is, lies have a way of being exposed...Both Melinda and Reginald have their fair share of secrets and neither is what the other expected. Melinda’s daring new husband seems to have a sinister secret in his past and Reginald’s perfect wife turns out to be a feisty suffragette. With danger looming and past mistakes catching up to them, can they even dare to imagine a chance at true love?"When Two Souls Defy Destiny" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Regency Chase Family Boxed Set: Lost in Temptation, Tempting Juliana, and The Art of Temptation


Lauren Royal - 2012
    But when the man she's loved since her girlhood returns from a long spell abroad, she quite suddenly finds herself hoping the fine lord her brother has picked for her won't propose…TEMPTING JULIANA - London, 1816 - There's nothing Lady Juliana Chase wants more than to see her loved ones happy. So why is everyone ignoring her good intentions and shaking up her sensible plans?THE ART OF TEMPTATION - London, 1817 - Though Lady Corinna Chase is more interested in pursuing her art than finding a husband, she can't help but take notice of the handsome Irishman who's moved in next door. When it soon becomes evident that her new neighbor isn't who he says he is, rather than expose him, she finds herself drawn into the hoax.

Behind the Cloud


Emilie Loring - 1940
    "I promise I'll just be best friends with all of them," she said, gaily. But lovely young Dee had reckoned without Lt. Bill Mason, so handsome, so maddeningly aloof. And without Captain Steele, as hard and ruthless as his name. Dee sensed that the hatred of these two men went deeper than their rivalry for her. What lay in the past of these West Pointers? Dee knew she had to solve this mystery, for she had fallen irrevocably in love with one of them.

Heart of a Slave


Verna Cyril - 2020
    Despite her initial resistance, she is ensnared in a steamy love affair with the young, noble aristocrat, Dimitri. However, as the daughter of a chieftain warrior, Siwhetta is defiant, passionate, and determined to return to her homeland. Dimitri, on the other hand, enamored of this nubile, ebony beauty is possessive and takes what he wants, and thus far, his eyes are set on Siwhetta. Intent on possessing her, he will stop at nothing to get her into his arms even if it meant breaking every rule in the book.Disclaimer: Please note that this book includes information that may be upsetting to some persons. ExcerptSiwhetta inhaled and looked into his cobalt eyes and pointed out calmly, “I am a slave and you are the slave master’s grandson.” Siwhetta repeated then began to sob. “This is not what I want. I would like to experience true love like my parents did. One day, I would like to live a normal life again. I don’t want this!” She began pushing at him again. Defeated, Dimitri rolled on his back next to her on the ground. He looked at the canopy of trees hanging over their heads. There was no doubt that he cared for her. He wished he knew how he could make her trust him. “I will take you home with me.”Horrified, Siwhetta gasped then turned to look at him. She searched his eyes curiously.As if he knew that she doubted him, he repeated: “I will take you home with me.”Siwhetta sat up with relief, heart palpitating. She finally felt like there was hope; that she could finally have a life of freedom again; a chance to fall in love; a chance to have a family; to start a new life somewhere new. Tears of joy finally ran down her cheeks. “I can finally be free again?” she placed her hand on her chest in disbelief. “Maybe,” she paused, biting on her lower lip then whispered in awe, “maybe someday go back home?” Dimitri tensed, he scowled. “You will remain with me.”As if wounded, Siwhetta grimaced then lowered her head in confusion. She lifted her chin proudly and with blazing eyes yelled, “I would never!”Dimitri said, firmly, “You will remain with me.”

Solitary Horseman


Deborah Camp - 2016
    Love Takes Courage.He’s known her his whole life, but he never really knew her until she revived in him emotions he thought had died on the Civil War battle fields.The Civil War is over, but the battles continue. Callum Latimer returned from the war to a life he didn’t want and with inner battle scars he can’t heal. Banner Payne clutched desperately to the remaining shreds of the life she’d known, but she is losing her grip. Brought together by bad luck and cruel twists of fate, Callum and Banner forge a partnership they hope will keep them afloat even as neighboring Texas ranchers go under and their land is snapped up by opportunists. Fate smiles on them and Callum and Banner find the missing pieces of themselves in each other. Healing begins as their hearts are awakened. Now they must remain strong in their determination to forge a more peaceful existence and not be poisoned by the bitterness of a country still divided.

Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel


Linda Bennett Pennell - 2013
    Lake City, Florida, June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan's self-righteous vigilantism. Jack's older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancé, a sheriff’s deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may get all of them killed. Gainesville, Florida, August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words I love you. Despite the entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical. Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion, original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone. What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process, leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.

The Quiet Wards


Lucilla Andrews - 1956
    But who took it? Twenty-one-year-old Nurse Gillian Snow finds her career in jeopardy when a dangerous drug disappears from the drug cupboard under her care. The situation also affects her romance with dashing house-surgeon Peter Kier. Moved from her ward to do other duties, Gillian experiences the happiness and heartache that comes from nursing both children and accident victims. As she struggles to understand who took the drug, and why, Gillian finds support and truth from some unexpected quarters. The Quiet Wards is the third novel by the bestselling hospital fiction author Lucilla Andrews. For the first time, Lucilla's novels are now available as ebooks (with new print editions available from 2018). More at www.lucillaandrews.com Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and her Nightingales series, Jean Fullerton, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries.

Summer at the Lake


Bella Andre - 2021
    Millions of readers around the world have fallen in love with Bella Andre’s emotional, fun and sexy contemporary romances!THE BEST IS YET TO COMEBest friends. High school sweethearts. Passionate lovers. Once upon a time, Sarah Bartow and Calvin Vaughn were everything to each other. Until big dreams—and an even bigger tragedy—tore them apart. Ten years after good-bye, they're finally together again at Summer Lake in the Adirondacks...and the sparks between them are hotter than ever. Soon one kiss is turning into so much more. Not only breathtaking, sizzling lovemaking—but also deep, honest emotions that can't be denied.CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOUChristie Hayden escaped to Summer Lake to heal from heartbreak, but found so much more than that: a job she loves as an innkeeper, a close-knit community of friends, and a chance at the perfect romantic future she’s always longed for. But nothing is as it seems, especially when it comes to Liam Kane, the gorgeous millionaire who sweeps into her life from out of the blue…and instantly turns it—and her heart—upside down.

Sweet Rosie


Iris Gower - 1999
    Content to adore him from afar, when he comes to her seventeenth birthday party she realizes that he is the only man she will ever love. But Watt, unaware of her feelings, is becoming increasingly drawn into the problems facing pottery owner Llinos Mainwaring, whose romantic marriage to Joe, the American Indian who stole her heart all those years ago, now seems in trouble. Before long, Rosie discovers that she is changed for ever from the innocent girl she once was, as she becomes involved with a man whose love she is destined never to have. A story of human love and conflict that spans two continents.

Loren's Hope


Jean L. Kuhnke - 2015
    Loren is perceived as a child as thin as a rail with mud caked hair when Old Tom and his boys come across Thad Walters on their way to town. Rather than take the chance that Miss Pearl won't offer him enough money for a visit at Pearl's brothel, Old Tom decides to convince Thad to buy her. Thad knew that he would do everything in his power to get the child away from the men that had her tied behind their horse half dragging her to town. When he finally payed them enough to get four steak dinners and one roll in the hay for Old Tom, he took her to his ranch planning to take the child to the next town where she could be taken in by a good family. To his surprise, when she got all the mud off, he found her to be a beautiful woman, not a child at all.